True Crime
Molasses turned deadly when a holding tank burst and sent millions of gallons of sticky liquid through the streets of Boston
It was January 15, 1919, when Boston suffered through one of their history’s greatest and strangest disaster. What is known as the “Great Molasses Flood” ripped through their city, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.
It all started in 1915 when the Purity Distilling Company built a large molasses tank in Boston’s North End, as molasses was typically used to turn into rum or industrial alcohol. The tank was 50 feet tall and 90 feet across, capable of holding up to 2.5 million gallons of liquid. In the process of making the tank, the company was…
True Crime
The abduction and murder of Amber Hagerman led to the creation of what is now known as the AMBER Alert
At 9-years-old, Amber Hagerman was like any other girl. She was in the Girl Scouts and loved to ride her bike around her town of Arlington, Texas, living a completely normal life.
But on January 13, 1996, it all came to an end.
That day, Amber was riding her bike around the parking lot of an abandoned grocery store. Her younger brother had already left, as Amber wanted to stay longer than he did. Everything was fine until a black pickup truck pulled up beside her. A man got out, forcefully grabbed Amber off her bike, and shoved her into…
True Crime
The murder of Helle Crafts would go on to inspire the wood chipper scene in the infamous movie Fargo
From the outside, it seemed as though Helle and Richard Crafts had a normal life. Helle worked as a Danish air stewardess for Pan American, while Richard was a pilot for Eastern Airlines. They met through their work before eventually getting married in 1979 and having three kids in the town of Newtown, Connecticut.
But from the beginning, their relationship was difficult. Richard cheated on Helle before they got married, even stating that he only married Helle because she was pregnant and too far along to get an abortion. From there, things only got worse for the couple.
In 1986…
When Elmer McCurdy was shot and killed after a bank and train robbing crime spree, no one expected that his dead body would travel around the country with carnivals and shows
In December of 1976, a production crew for the show The Six Million Dollar Man went to The Pike amusement park in California to film for an upcoming episode. During the shoot, a member of the crew moved a wax mannequin, causing one of the arms to break off. Upon closer inspection, human bone and muscle tissue were discovered.
It wasn’t a prop.
It was a real human body.
Elmer J. McCurdy was born in Maine in January 1880. His mother was only 17-years-old at the time of his birth and was also unmarried. McCurdy’s father is unknown, but theories…
When Christine and Lea Papin murdered their employers, the two sisters committed one of the most gruesome crimes in French history.
It all started in a beautiful house on №6 Rue Bruyére in the city of Le Mans, France. Retired lawyer René Lancelin and his wife Léone lived in the two-story house with their daughter, Geneviéve, and their two servants, Christine and Lea Papin.
From the outside, it seemed as if the Lancelin family treated the sister well. They lived in a heated room and were fed good food, as well as being paid a liveable wage. Christine and Lea were seen as the perfect help, making the Lancelins the envy of all their upper-class friends.
That was until February 2…
Colleen Stan was kidnapped and held as a sex slave for years in a coffin-sized box.
At the age of 20-years-old, Colleen Stan considered herself an expert hitchhiker. It was 1977, and at that time, the dangerous mode of transportation was seen as normal. As Colleen attempted to travel from her hometown of Eugene, Oregon to northern California, she was confident that she would be safe.
On a seemingly normal May day, Colleen had already turned down two rides because they seemed unsafe. But when a blue van pulled, Colleen finally accepted a ride. …
True Crime
It has been over fifty years since the young couple was murdered, but the case remains unsolved, despite a potential connection to the Zodiac Killer.
On June 4, 1963, it was Senior Ditch Day at Lompoc High school. The day was traditionally reserved for seniors to take the day off classes and spend it partying, but eighteen-year-old Robert Domingos and his seventeen-year-old girlfriend Linda Edwards had different plans.
Instead of going out with all their other classmates, the couple decided that they would rather spend the day with each other. The original plan was to go to the beach with another couple from their school, but when the other couple dropped out, Robert and Linda decided to go alone. …
DNA test puts 100-year-old mystery to rest
It all started on August 23, 1912, when the Dunbar family went on a trip to Swayze Lake in Louisiana. It was meant to be a fun day trip to the water, where the kids could play and fish in the lake, and the family could just relax for a few short hours.
But all of a sudden, Lessie and Percy Dunbar realized that their youngest son had disappeared.
They searched everywhere for the four-year-old boy, but they turned up nothing. They were forced to call the police, who quickly organized a state-wide manhunt for the young boy. They searched…
True Crime
The Axeman of New Orleans was a vicious killer that turned jazz music into a thing of terror.
Few people have heard of the Axeman of New Orleans, the vicious serial killer that turned jazz music into a thing of terror. But for a period of 18 months from May 1918 to October 1919, the people of New Orleans could think of little else as they were hunted down one-by-one.
The Crimes
It all started on the night of May 22, 1918, when Joseph Maggio and his wife Catherine were discovered dead in their bed, surrounded by a pool of blood. The grocery store owners were found with a cut to their throats, done by a razor blade while they…
When American socialite Georgette Bauerdorf was brutally killed in 1944, her murder would go unsolved for over 70 years.
Georgette Bauerdorf seemed to have her entire life set out for her. She was an American socialite and oil heiress, young and beautiful in a way that everyone around her envied. But then out of nowhere, Georgette was brutally murdered.
The case would go unsolved for over seventy years.
The horror began on October 12, 1944, when Fred and Lulu Atwood were working as a janitor and housekeeper at the El Palacio Apartments. They were going about their normal duties of cleaning rooms when the two went to clean the adjacent two-story apartment.
The door was cracked open, so they…
Jane Doe: A True Crime Blog
Welcome to Jane Doe. A true crime blog that discusses crimes committed around the world.
